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I can be reached by e-mail at barnett@ku.edu |
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| Anthony's Restaurant 701 Grand Kansas City, MO 64106 816-221-4088 |
This
pleasant Italian-American restaurant is very enjoyable for what it
is. But it is not the place to go, if you are looking for upscale
Italian food. The resaurant has a lounge singer on some evenings.
It is located at the corner of 7th and Grand downtown. In that area, you can find more innovative Northern Italian food at Seven (which I have not yet tried) about two blocks away at 6th and Walnut, but of course Seven is more expensive than Anthony's. |
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Bar Natasha 1911 Main Kansas City, MO 64108 816-472-5300 web site |
This
restaurant and bar features cabaret entertainment. On
weekends, they usually have lounge piano from 7 pm to 9:30 pm, then a
cabaret show until 11:30, and then a different kind of cabaret
show starting at 11:30 pm. If you arrive at around 9:00 pm
for dinner and stay for a few hours, you can see it all. Bar
Natasha is in the Crossroads Art District on the corner of 19th St. and
Main. There two parking lots on the northeast corner of
Main. The first has signs saying the lot is private, but the
second lot appears to be open to the public at no charge. It is best to have reservations. Some of the tables have regular dining chairs and tables. Others are high top tables with bar stools. It is best to state your preference, when you make your reservations. The tables closest to the stage are regular ones. The food is mostly small plates of appetizers, vegetables, and desserts. The fish tacos are popular. Many people prefer to have dinner elsewhere and reserve a table for the show. In that case, it is best to arrive at around 9:15 pm. As a restaurant, this is not a venue for fine dining. But the cabaret shows are first rate. |
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[format (12 or upstairs b
y window)] Blue Bird Bistro 1700 Summit Kansas City, MO (near Crossroads Art District) 816-221-7559 web site |
If
you like healthy food, you will love this restaurant. It started
as a vegetarian restaurant, but has branched out to include many
choices. If you are a vegan, you will find what you want
here. If you want meat, you also will not be disappointed.
Much on the menu is local and organic. If you value such choices,
you will find no other restaurant that can match this one in Kansas
City or Lawrence. The location is a couple of blocks west of the Crossroads art district. But this restaurant appears in many ways to be within that district, which may have extended to the west to include this block. In fact the art displayed in this restaurant is among the best buys in the local art market. If you are looking for art to purchase, you may indeed wish to see what is on display here, both on the first and second floors of this restaurant. Most partking here is on the streets of Summit and 17th St, but there is a parking lot behind the restaurant. You probably will do fine by parking on the street, but if you should wish to try to find the lot, the driveway is from Belleview Ave behind the restaurant (which is on the corner of Summit and 17th St.). While the ingredients available here are really outstanding, this restaurant is missing much that you would expect at a fine dining restaurant. The soup tends not to be adequately warm; if you reserve a particular table, the odds are high that someone already will have the table when you arrive; and if you like sophisticated preparations and a lot of spice, you likely will be disappointed. Of course they will be happy to provide you with bottles of spice, a pepper mill, and whatever else you might wish to add. But you should not expect this restaurant to have a chef comparable to those you would find at some of the city's top restaurants displaying less concerrn for health. Kansas City is not yet in the same league as Berkeley, etc., which can attract its best chefs to its most ethical and healthy dining rooms. But this is the Midwest, and this too will change, so give this bistro a try. It may get better and better as time passes. |
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| Bristol's Seafood Grill 51 East 14th St. Power and Light District Kansas City, MO 64106 816-448-6007 web site |
See entry for Bristol's in the Johnson County section. This Bristol's is within the Power and Light District on
14th St between Main St. and Walnut. They have a happy hour in
the bar area every night except Saturday night from 4 pm - 6:30 pm,
including big discounts on appetizers and oysters. |
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| [format (51)] City Tavern 22nd and Baltimore Kansas City, MO (In Crossroads Art District) 816-421-3696 www.citytavern.net |
Next
to Lidia's restaurant in the old Freight House, City Tavern is in
the Crossroads Art District at an excellent location to begin a First
Friday Art walk and an interesting view of Union Station and the
passing trains. City Tavern is a 15 minute walk from Crown Plaza
using an overpass, but rather than walking, it is better to park in the
large parking lot that is directly behind the restaurant. The
restaurant has the appearance of an old time steak and chop house, but
offers far more seafood than the usual steak and chop house. In
fact City Tavern has some of the very best seafood in the Kansas City
area, including wild caught salmon and line caught tuna. While
they offer an interesting choice of sauces and some excellent, high
quality, fresh incredients, the preparations are not especially
upscale. But the reasonable prices reflect the unpretentious
nature of the preparations. The dinng room is beautiful and the
service excellent. The wine list is good and includes some
reasonably priced options along with more expensive ones. I like
this restaurant a lot. While not in the same league as the nearby
American Restaurant in Crown Center, City Tavern is an old time gem of
a restaurant. The restaurant includes an oyster bar and has very fresh oysters. |
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Drum Room Hilton President Hotel 1329 Baltimore St. Kansas City, MO 64105 816-221-9490 restaurant's web site |
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Hereford House 2 East 20th St. Kansas city (Crossroads Art District) 816-842-1080 |
See listing under West Lawrence. | ||
| [format (13, not 10)] La Bodega 703 Southwest Blvd Kansas City, MO 64108 816-472-8272 web site |
This
Spanish tapas restaurant along Mexican-restaurant-row on Southwest
Blvd. has the most popular happy hour in KC, with half off on tapas,
wine by the glass, beer, well liquor, and sangria. That happy hour is 2 - 6 pm on Monday -
Friday and 2 - 4 pm on Saturday. Even at those off hours, reservations are a good idea at
LaBodega. For large groups, there are long tables along the back
row. Most of the other tables are for 2 or 4 diners, with the
best of those tables being the round or square tables along the windows. The tapas are excellent here and a match for the tapas in other Spanish restaurants in the US, but somewhat different from tapas in Spain. I was somewhat mystified by the representation of the history of tapas at the top of the menu. While the description is accurate in saying that the origins are in the north of Spain, few people in Madrid accustomed to bar hopping (Spanish: Ir de tapas) to tapas bars would agree that tapas are primarily Basque, as stated on the menu here. In fact in Basque country, the word tapas is not even used. Their equivalent is called pintxos in Basque, where they have a toothpick (pincho) through them, unlike most tapas in Madrid. The quality and preparation of scallops here is outstanding --- not the usual Midwestern rubber scallops. If you do not like the preparation of the scallop tapas (wrapped in ham), you can request a modification, such as an extra scallop for omitting the ham. If you would prefer a regular entree instead of tapas, the atun a la plancha (sesame seed encrusted ahi tuna) is excellent. In most restaurants in the Midwest, I request tuna to be cooked medium. But the tuna here is sushi grade, so medium rare is preferable. The Spanish coffee is very popular here as a dessert drink, and provides somewhat of a show, when the server ignites it. But my preference is the carajillo (espresso with Spanish brandy). This restaurant has an admirable list of moderately priced wines by the glass, and the selection is so good that I have no clear preferences among the moderately prices wines. All are very good and excellent buys (especially during happy hour). I did have one complaint about La Bodega this summer. On hot days, they tended to run the fans on the ceilings, while setting the airconditioning at a somewhat uncomfortably high temperature. Was the idea to mimic the south of Spain, where the temperature can be very high and energy prices much higher than in the US? Perhaps they have not been to Spain lately. With the strong euro and the prosperous EU, the days of feeble airconditioning in Europe's good restaurants are in the past. Following posting of the above "complaint" about the air conditioning, I received the following very encouraging email message from La Bodega: "It has been a challenge for us this summer, and is in the process of being corrected. The unit we thought we had fixed finally burned out it's compressor - obviously on our busiest weekend. The unit is in the process of being replaced. We hope that this will solve our issues." I hope so too. In fact, I've been back once since that unpleasant experience, and the air conditioning was working fine. So (hopefully) that problem has been solved. |
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Le Fou Frog 400 E. Fifth St. In the River Market 816-474-6060 Its web site |
I
would surely be a regular at this restaurant, if it were in
Lawrence. Unfortunately it is in one of my less favorite
locations (two blocks from the River Market in Downtown, Kansas
City). The location does have the advantage of its own
parking lot. But I tend to view the River Market to be a rather
sad imitation of the Laclede's Landing/Soulard area of St. Louis.
The River Market location is not a plus, relative to the much nicer downtown in Lawrence or the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City.. Of course this has nothing to do with the quality of the restaurant. The restaurant has live jazz on Sunday starting at 6:30 pm, a very reasonable wine list, and efficient waitpersons. The service does not fit the image of service at the best restaurants, but one would not expect such upscale service demeanor at a restaurant that is so unpretentious and reasonable. We very much enjoyed everything we ordered at Le Fou Frog. Clearly this restaurant's chef is "the real thing." The chef evidently is from Marseille. I recognize the style. Unlike Café Provence, which oddly does not serve the style of Provence, Le Fou Frog (which means "The Crazy Frenchman") does include that style on its menu. I especially like the Mediterranean style of preparation from the South of France. In fact, perhaps my most memorable dinner was at a restaurant in Marseille many years ago, in a restaurant which I believe no longer exists. It was on the inner harbor and was called The New York. It was known throughout France to have the best bouillabaisse in the world. The New York could afford a great chef, since the clientele included some of the wealthiest residents of Marseille. At the time, I was working at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC. When I returned to Washington, a friend at the French embassy explained to me why that restaurant's customers were so well off; and I assume I now know why that restaurant no longer exists. The former customers, who were regulars at The New York, can no longer afford those marvelous meals from their current, rather modest, accommodations--- in prison. They were "The French Connection." |
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| This
trendy restauarnt is in the Crossroad Art District near 19th St. and
Main. There is a small parking lot directly south of the
restaurant on Main. There is no a la carte menu. They have
a fixed price 3-course menu. You can choose from one appetizer,
one entree, and one restaurant. But if you do not want a dessert,
you can choose two appetizers and one entree (a good idea). Among
the desserts is a cheese plate, which contains too little cheese to be
credible. Most of the choices include meat, even if they
otherwise seem to be seafood or vegetarian, but this restaurant is
happy to make necessary changes to accommodate your preferences. The restaurant has two dining rooms, both very attractive. My preference is the back room (the wine room). They offer wine matching, but I am particulary impressed by the wine list, which includes some reasonably priced good wine bottles. At upscale restaurant of this sort, it can be difficult to find any reasonably priced bottles, but this restaurant is an exception to that rule. I especially appreciate that fact. While this restaurant is not among the very best in Kansas City, it provide an exceptionally good buy for an upscale dinner. I like this restaurant a lot. |
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| Sadly
the wonderful 40 Sardines restaurant in Johnson County has
closed. But its excellent chef, Michael Smith, has opened a new
restaurant, as both chef and owner, using his own name as the name of
the restaurant. The new restaurant does not disappoint. As
with his previous restaurant, what Michael Smith provides is fine
dining at moderate prices. There are the minor glitches that one
would expect at a restaurant that does not charge high end
prices; but in terms of value per dollar, this restaurant is a
winner. Soon this chef plans to open another restaurant next door
to this one. That second restaurant is to be called Extra Virgin
and is expected to provide Spanish tapas style dining. The location is in the Crossroads Art District, and this restaurant has free parking after 5:30 pm in the Michael's menswear store parking lot across the street on 19th St. |
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Lidia's
101 W 22nd St. 816-221-3722 (In Crossroads Art District) www.360kc.com/Restaurants/Lidias.html |
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Nara
16th and Mai 1617 Main Street Kansas City, MO 64108 816-221-6272 information@narakc.com web site |
The most interesting
preparations at this restaurant are the Robata grill choices. "Robata"
means "by the fireside" in Japanse and is the old style of nothern
Japanese fisherman, who grilled over an open fire on skewers. That
style is best known in this country from the Benihana chain.
With no Benihana restaurants in Kansas City, Nara has the distinction
of being the only Japanese restaurant in Kansas City offering robata
grilled dishes. At Nara, the head chef, Koji Sakata, is the son
of one of the original chefs at Benihana in Los Angeles, and it shows. They also offer sushi and other Japanese styles. As a rather trendy (and noisy) restaurant offering more diverse choices than other Japanese restaurants in Kansas City, this restaurant has been getting a lot of hype. But don't expect Japanese food comparable to that in the best Japanese restaurants of New York City or Los Angeles (e.g., those run by Nobu Matsuhisa), and certaintly not comparable to the best in Nara, Japan (the country's historic capital from 710 to 784). In fact this restaurant's sushi is not a match for that at the wonderful Cafe Beautiful in nearby Lawrence. But the sushi can be surprisingly good at Nara, if you order the sushi chef's special of the day. There was a roll listed as the special of the day from the sushi chef, the last time I was there, and it was really outstanding. This restaurant, locally owned by Casey Adams, has two parking lots, one right next door to it on Main, along the north side of the building, and a larger lot behind the restaurant with access from 16th St. The availability of free parking at this downtown location is a plus. But the spaces listed as being for Nara fill rapidly and will likely be gone, if you arrive late in the evening. It probably is safe to park in spaces markes as being for businesses in the evening, when they are closed, unless they are listed as being reserved for 24 hrs/day. If you arrive early for dinner, you likely will have no difficulty parking in a space specifically reserved for Nara. The most confortable seating in the restuarant is in the booths, but there are only four. Don't expect to be able to get a booth, unless you have reserved one in advance. |
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Raglan Road Irish Pub 170 E 14th Street Power and Light District 816-994-9700 web site |
This
Irish Pub has two entrances. Each enters a different dining room,
with one dining room being much larger than the other and having a
stage for live music. The menu is the same in both, but I like
the large dining room better. While this is a pub and not an upscale restaurant, the best pubs in Ireland have better food and better environment than most pubs in the US. This restaurant's pub food does not disappoint. I had both the steamed mussels and the smoked salmon, each of which can easily disappoint, if not fresh and prepared well. At Raglan Road, the mussels and smoked salmon were excellent, both in quality and presentation. I'll want to return to try the entrees next time. |
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816-842-3890 A web site | This
old fashioned restaurant, the oldest in Kansas City, is in the historic
Hotel Savoy. The menu has hardly changed in decades, and the
renovation of the hotel is incomplete. Nevertheless, this hotel
and restaurant are historic and well worth a visit. One of the
booths in the restaurant was favored by Harry Truman, and the hotel has
posted a letter from him in the lobby. The letter, written long
before he became President, is an application for a job at the hotel as
a desk clerk. Although we were less than pleased with the food in
the restaurant, we did find that dinner to be an interesting
experience. We also stayed for a night in the hotel. If you
are a history buff, you may also find that stay to be interesting, but
be aware that some of the hotel is still in poor condition. The
breakfast in the Savoy Grill for hotel guests is a high point of any
stay at that hotel, and will make up for any disappointments with the
dated dinner menu. The hotel, built in 1888, was remodeled in
1903 and 1985, but still needs work. Both the hotel and the
restaurant are entered in the National Register of Historic Places. | ||
| <code=32> Seven 613 Walnut 816-777-1107 web site |
This
northern Italian style restaurant is excellent and has very
sophisticated service. The chef, from Philadelphia, brings an
east coast style to Kansas City, and the decor of the dining room is
striking. Later in the evening, they remove some of the tables,
and Seven becomes a nightclub with dancing. They have a large
parking lot directly across the street on Walnut. If you will be
at an event at the Sprint Center, you can park here for free, have
dinner at Seven, and use their van to get to and from the Sprint
Center. Seven is located on Walnut just south of 6th St. (which is just south of I70). You can get to and from the restaurant on I70, but you might want to use local streets. If so, be aware of the fact that Walnut is one way heading north, so you can get to the restaurant from the Power and Light District on Walnut., but you cannot return to the Power and Light District on Walnut. The restaurant is on the right (east) side of the street and its parking lot on the left side. When departing, you will have to continue north on Walnut. Shortly after crossing the I70 bridge, you will be at the RiverMarket. Make a left there onto 5th St (which is at the entrance to the River Market). Then make the second left from 5th Street onto Main to head south back to the Power and Light District. Alternatively, when you continue north on Walnut, you could make an immediate right onto 6th St, which is one-way to the right, and then an immediate right onto Grand,which you could take south back to the Power and Light District. |
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| Tengo sed Cantina 1330 Grand Boulevard and 1323 Walnut Power and Light District Kansas City, MO 64105 816-442-8124 web site |
This Mexican restaurant in the Power and Light District downtown has an outstanding specialty appetizer: crab and tempura avocado wraps (wrapped in butterhead lettuce). An entrance is directly from the KC Live Stage area of the Power and Light District. | ||
Vinino Power and Light District 1320 Grand Blvd. Kansas City, MO 64105 816-221-8466 web site |
This beautiful wine bar has a limited menu and an unbeatable location in the Power and Light District.
The front entranct of Vinino's is on Grand facing the Sprint Center and
the back faces the outdoor KC Live Stage area. Vinino's recently
received a negative review from the restaurant critic of the Kansas City Star
newspaper. This somewhat surprised me, so I tried it. I
much enjoyed it and thought that the dinner was well worth the
price. But I must say that it was a comedy of errors, to put it
mildly. I asked whether they could make changes in the preparations on the menu. I was told that everything is prepared in advance, so they usually can't do much to accommodate special requests. The menu lists a fresh fish of the day. The waiter said it was sword fish priced at $21. I ordered it. When it came out, I knew immediately that it could not possibly have been swordfish and was obviously monk fish. I told the waiter to inform the manager that the restaurant had evidently been cheated by its seafood distributor. The manager then came out and informed me that the lunch special was monk fish, and that was what I was served. He did not explain why. I was there for dinner. He told me that the lunch special price was $12, so I would be charged for the lunch special price. When the waiter returned, I asked him what the lunch special had been. He informed me that the restaurant had not been open for lunch that day. When we left, we saw a blackboard menu on the sidewalk outside saying that the special of the day was monk fish. Well I personally prefer monk fish to swordfish, and the $12 price was a bargain. The waiter did tell me that they had just changed managers. Perhaps it is time for a third manager. The location of the restaurant and its decor are excellent. Surely this restaurant will eventually be a big success. But at present, you will need a "sense of humor" to be able to deal with the confusion here. |
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| Vivace 529 Walnut St. Kansas City, MO 816-527-0999 web site |
The
best restaurant in the River Market area of Downtown is Le Fou
Frog---by a rather large margin. The second best is
Vivace. But the two are not directly comparable, since
their styles are very different. There is no place else quite
like Vivace in the Kansas City area. In particular, Vivace's "ice
bar" is reputedly the "coolest place in town." Le Fou Frog's
continental style leans towards France (via the Côte d'Azur), while
Vivace's leans more towards Italy (via Las Vegas). |
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I can be reached by e-mail at barnett@ku.edu |
